Intimate and interactive with SOE and DC Universe Online

Hoping to capitalize on an untouched market and an underused IP, Sony Online …

When it comes to console MMOs, there are virtually no other companies that can challenge Sony Online Entertainment. The company has dedicated itself to carving out its own niche in the console-based MMO market and at CES this year. The upcoming DC Universe Online was the star attraction at the SOE private suite meeting. We had a chance to sit down with a functional, but nonetheless, early pre-alpha version of the game and spoke with senior producer Wes Yanagi.

For those unfamiliar with the title, DC Universe Online is SOE's second significant foray into the world of console MMOs and one of the significant online PS3 games currently in development. Both Sony and DC are pumping a ton of money and man-power into developing an entertaining MMO experience that is both fun to play and true to the underused DC canon. Walking that path isn't easy: There is already one significant superhero-based MMO on the market with City of Heroes, and another, Champions Online, is on the way. So how is SOE planning to differentiate DC Universe Online in more tangible terms beyond the license?

The answer lies in the game's combat system. Playing more like a beat-'em-up game than an MMO, DC Universe Online is much more an online action game where gamers who've played previous console-based superhero games will find themselves right at home. Attacks occur in real time directly in relation to button presses; there are no lengthy cool-downs or mana points to worry about; the game world is largely more interactive, with a full physics engine and a ton of environmental integration—aside from the experience points popping up and the odd bout of lag, the company has effectively built an action game.

That said, MMO players will find themselves at home pretty quickly—as was evident with Age of Conan, a more action-based approach to combat instead of auto-attack makes the drudgery of the grind slog much more interesting. Players can mix up different attack types and interweave various special attacks to tackle enemies. Mixing instance-based story sequences that feature the DC heroes with open world quests and a zone-based game world, DC Universe Online seems to borrow quite a bit from City of Heroes.

Where the game really comes into its own is with the environmental interaction. Players can lift up cars, run up the side of buildings, fly and jump around the environment, throw enemies into one another—there hasn't really been an MMO that offers this kind of intuitive and interactive freedom before. This gets especially interesting when players team up; if one player attacks an enemy with a freeze ray, for example, another can pick up the frozen block and throw it.

Another interesting aspect of the game is the individual player stances. Each character, no matter what "spec" (the game ditches a rigid class structure and relies solely on a talent-based system in which players spend general points on whatever moves they want), can take on an offensive, defensive, or support stance. These stances change which abilities the character has access to, as well as some basic stats. An offensive stance deals more damage but also takes more damage, a defensive stance takes less and deals less, and a support character can heal and buff.

This simple change from the norm paves the way for a much more variable party structure. Players of any specialization can take on any of the roles, which allows for a vast amount of flexibility when partying with others—though specialization is still very important; a healer-spec character will always heal better than anyone else, regardless of stance. The other neat grouping feature, which the team is calling "soft grouping," allows players to complete raids and instances together without being in a group. All contributors receive experience (though it doesn't appear to be an "award XP per hit" situation).

DC Universe Online is still quite a ways from release. The developers quickly batted away any questions about potential release date, or even window to beta, in addition to questions about the game's subscription model. The game is still in its infancy, but it definitely shows potential from a design perspective. The company has paid close attention to what does and doesn't work on the console—Vivox is working with SOE to provide powerful, integrated voice chat in the place of typing, for example—so it seems that Sony Online Entertainment and its DC Universe Online will be players to watch in 2009.